Peru's Manu is one of the most
biologically diverse places on earth. Home to over 1,000
species of birds, 300 species of trees, and countless
other life forms, Manu showcases life at its most
prolific. But deep within Manu's rain forest also lie
stories and histories of Indians and foreign explorers of
centuries past. Though their footprints have disappeared
over time, these inhabitants and travelers have made deep
impressions that have shaped Manu into what it is today.

Home
to numerous indigenous Indian tribes, the Peruvian rain
forest's most recognized Indian inhabitants were the
Incas whose capital was in the Andes but whose empire extended into the cloud forest. With their large empire, the Incas had many contacts with the jungle Indians of Manu. At its height, the Inca empire spanned 3,000 miles
(4,800 km) across South America. Inca territory was
divided into quarters, with Cuzco, the city where the
Inca Sun King resided, at the center. Communication
between cities was facilitated by "chaskis,"
couriers who ran between locations to send information.

During
the 1500s, the Inca's hold on the region began to wane.
Spurred by discoveries in the new world, Spanish
conquistadors began exploring South America and claiming
these newly-found areas for Spain. By 1532, Peru was
conquered by Spaniard Francisco Pizarro, and in 1567,
Alvarez Maldonado claimed the Manu river and surrounding
regions for Spain.

Even though
the Spanish ruled the territory, they knew little of the
rain forest's natural resources and waterways. Renewed
interest in exploring Manu developed after the rubber
boom. In 1839, Charles Goodyear heated rubber sap with
sulfur, producing the first commercially viable,
heat-resistant rubber. After this discovery, demand for
rubber trees ran high, and Manu, with its rich bounty of
rubber trees, became the perfect source for satisfying
this need.

Also crucial to Manu's rubber trade was baron
Carlos Fitzgerald's ("Fitzcarraldo") crossing
of a divide between the Upper Mishagua and Upper Manu.
This divide, eventually called the "Fitzgerald
Pass," provided an accessible travel route to the
Madre de Dios River. In 1880, approximately 8,000 tons of
rubber were exported from Peru, but by 1900, the number
of exports climbed to an amazing 27,000 tons of rubber.
In 1914, Manu's rubber trade collapsed, suffering from
competition from Southeast Asian rubber suppliers and
deforestation.

Manu's
landscape has changed since its pristine early years, and
several animal and plant species have become endangered
since the rubber boom. In 1967, the Peruvian government
signed an agreement with other American countries to
establish national parks to promote conservation of
regional flora and fauna. This agreement specified that
the park "covered more than half the country...
contained the greatest number of Peru's wide range of
animals and birds...be in a virgin state, uninhabited and
unaffected by the operations of hunters, lumbers, or
colonists...[and] included every biotope from the
riverside forests of the Amazon's main tributaries."
In 1968, Manu was declared a National Reserve, and five
years later, it was upgraded to a National Park.

Today,
the entire region of Manu -- a total size of 7200 square miles (1,881,200 hectares) -- is considered a Biosphere
Reserve. The Manu Biosphere Reserve is composed of three
parts: the Manu National Park, a region protecting the
natural flora and fauna; the Manu Reserved Zone, an area
reserved for research and tourism; and the Manu Cultural
Zone, a place used for human settlement. With these
recent conservation efforts, life in Manu flourishes.
Presently, scientists and researchers are learning more
about the indigenous Indians that still inhabit Manu, as
well as of the regional flora and fauna.